Stitching machines for binding booklets



Dec. 17, 1968 FENMQRE 3,416,715

STITCHING MACHINES FOR BINDING BOOKLETS Filed Aug. 25, 1966 j 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 LEAF- v//5 9 5w/7'5' f i E.- Z 20 72 FlEl-E fiEn-E TIE-:7 T R.

A TTOQ/VE-f 1968 H. L. FENIMORE 3,415,715 I STITCHING MACHINES FOR BINDING BOOKLETS Filed Aug. 25. 1966 Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 :ELEEF-E S0 was MAI/V MANUAL c raw f 1 Err-1D #5 INVENTOR. H/zexar A. Fey/Moe!- ATTOP/Vf) United States Patent 01 dice 3,416,715 Patented Dec. 17, 1968 3,416,715 STITCHING MACHINES FOR BINDING BGOKLETE? Harry L. Fenimore, Fenimore Mfg. lire, Box 509, Woodward, Okla. 73801 Filed Aug. 25, 1966, Ser. No. 575,178 1 Claim. (Cl. 227-44) ABSTRACT OF THE DHSCLOSURE This invention relates to the binding of booklets by what is known as stitching machines. The booklets to be stitched are fed across :a table on belts. They are brought to a halt, temporarily, while automatically positioned correctly, both longitudinally and transversely, of their movement, and are stitched while so halted. To do this, there is a side jogger acting intermittently in unison with the driving means for the belts. The booklets are held in position longitudinally while temporarily halted by pins projecting up through the table. The pins are mounted on a bar extending transversely under the table. A cam, with its follower, is used to lift the pins into position at the proper time in the cycle of operation of the machine. There is an adjustment for varying the angular position of the bar with respect to the longitudinal dimension of the table.

This invention relates to stitching machines for use in the book-binding art, and more particularly to an arrangement for automatically feeding and positioning booklets in a machine so that they can be stitched by standard stitching equipment.

lit is an object of the invention to provide continuously moving tapes for conveying bookets through a machine and at the same time bring each booklet to a stop, tem polarily, with detaining means, while it is still on the tape, and properly position it, both lengthwise and transversely of the machine under a stitching head, stitch it, and then release the detaining means so that the tapes can convey it on out of the machine.

An additional object is to provide alternate detaining stops for controlling the position of the booklets while they are being stitched with wire, so as to stagger the stitches.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a machine incorporating the principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of a booklet and a leaf switch illustrating how the booklet may actuate the switch and indicating where the booklet is to be stitched;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic side view of an electric motor and driving mechanism which is mounted under the table of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view of the intermittent drive mechanism used in the assembly of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic showing of the chain drive mechanism for controlling the longitudinal stops of the machine of FIG. 1, this mechanism being located under the rear panel of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of the mechanism for actuating both the longitudinal stops and the side joggers of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic side view (as viewed from the left) of the mechanism for driving the side joggers of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view of the table top of the machine of FIG. 1 and better showing the tapes cfor conveying the booklets and the longitudinal stops and side joggers;

FIG. -9 is a diagrammatic perspective view of the longitudinal stops and the means for changing their angular position with respect to the longitudinal dimension of the machine of FIGS. 1 and '8; and

FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram of the machine of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawing in detail, it will be seen that the machine of the present invention consists of a table :10 having the space beneath it enclosed by side panels 11, a front panel 12 and a rear panel 13.

There is an extension 14 on the front of the table for feeding booklets, such as 15 (FIG. 2) onto the table 10, the flow being from right to left.

The extension 14 has four tapes 17 mounted on rollers, there being two upper tapes and two lower cooperating tapes. The left hand roller for the lower tape is driven in a counterclockwise direction by the sprocket wheel 16 (FIG. 3) as will be described hereinafter. Friction between the upper and lower tapes, or between the tapes and a booklet, when it is fed between them, causes the booklets to be fed onto the table 10.

Similarly, the top of the table 10 has four tapes 18 mounted on rollers, there being two upper and two lower tapes. These feed the booklets on through the machine, and, together with the tapes 17 may be said to constitute the longitudinal dimension of the machine and determine the direction of flow of the booklets through the machine.

The two lower tapes 18 are driven by a sprocket wheel 21 (FIG. 3).

Idler rollers '19 are located on the table .10 between the tapes '17 and 18.

As shown in FIG. 1, stitching heads 20 are mounted on the table 10 above and in between the two pairs of tapes 18. These heads may be standard, and, per se, form no part of the present invention. Therefore, they are not shown or described in detail. It will be understood, however, that these heads operate to stitch, i.e., place wire staples in the bookets to hold the pages thereof together when the heads are lowered onto the booklets.

In accordance with the present invention, the tapes 17 and 18 are operated continuously, so that the booklets 15 always have a force exerted upon them tending to move them to the left, as viewed in FIG. 1 and FIG. 8 as they are fed through the machine between the upper and lower tapes.

The book-lets are brought to a stop for the stitching operation, however, and they are automatically located properly with respect to the heads 20 for this operation. The friction between the tapes and the booklets is such that it can be overcome to permit the booklets to be held stationary temporarily while the stitching is accomplished. It is to the stopping and starting and proper automatic location of the bookets, while the tapes continue to move, that this invention is particularly directed.

The travel of the booklets along the longitudinal dimension of the machine is controlled by what is referred to herein as longitudinal stop pins 22 which are caused to project vertically above the table 10 temporarily.

It is within the purview of this invention to have only one set of stop pins 22. However, it is preferred to provide two sets, to function alternately, being located at different places along the longitudinal dimension of the machine, so this is what is shown and described. The two sets are illustrated particularly in FIG. 9, and are brought into position by mechanism described hereinafter.

There are also side positioning pins, referred to herein as side joggers 23. These move the booklets transversely of the longitudinal dimension of the table and the travel of the tapes 17 and 18 and the booklets 15.

The stopping, positioning and stitching steps must be in unison and intermittent. Thus, the machine must go through repeated cycles of operation. The mechanism for doing so will now be described.

As the diagram of FIG. 3 shows, the machine includes an electric motor 24. By means of a V-belt 25, the motor drives a pulley 26. In turn, the pulley 26 drives sprocket wheels 21 and 16, mentioned above, which drives the sets of tapes 17 and 18.

The pulley 26 is connected by another V-belt 27 to a pulley 28 on a clutch 29. The clutch 29 is mounted on the same shaft 30 as a brake 31 and a small sprocket wheel 32.

The clutch 29 and brake 31 are operated by standard electromagnets. They operate alternately. When the clutch is engaged, the brake is released and vice versa.

The sprocket wheel 32 is connected by chain 33 to a larger sprocket wheel 34 on a shaft 35. This affords some speeded reduction.

The shaft 35 has a crank 36 thereon driving a connecting rod 37 which moves the stitching head down and then up.

Because the shaft is operated only intermittently, only during the time that the clutch 29 is engaged, it will be understood that sprocket wheel 34 can be caused to make one complete rotation, and then come to a stop, so as to cause the head 20 to perform its stitching operation on one booklet, if the circuits to the electromagnets in the clutch and brake are controlled in response to a single rotation of the sprocket wheel 34.

To accomplish this, the shaft has a bevel gear 38, as shown in FIG. 4. This drives a bevel gear 39 on a shaft 40. Shaft 40 has a cam 41 thereon which operates a holding switch 42, described hereinafter. As long as the switch 42 is closed, the electromagnet for the clutch 29 is energized and the sprocket wheel 34 is rotated.

The shaft 40 also is used to drive the mechanism which causes the longitudinal stops 22 and the side joggers 23 to function intermittently and in unison with the cyclic operation of the head 20.

The shaft 40 extends along the lower portion of the enclosure under table 10, and drives the mechanism shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7.

As shown in FIG. 5, there is a sprocket 43 which is driven by shaft 40 and which drives a chain 44. Meshing with the chain 44 are three sprockets designated 45, 46 and 47. There are exactly the same number of teeth on sprocket 46 as there are on drive sprocket 43. There are exactly twice as many teeth on sprocket 45 as there are on drive sprocket 43. Hence, sprocket 46 rotates at the same speed as sprocket 43 and makes one complete rotation every time sprocket 34 makes one complete rotation.

Sprocket 45, on the other hand, rotates at one-half the speed of sprocket 43 and makes one complete rotation only upon two complete rotations of sprocket wheel 34.

Sprocket 47 is only an idler for the chain.

The drive mechanism of FIG. 5 may be located just inside the rear panel 13 under the table 10 and on the outside of an inner wall 48 (see FIG. 6) of the assembly, which is used to support the drive mechanism for the stops 22 and joggers 23.

The sprocket 45 is on a shaft 49, the inside portion of which carries a cam 50. A follower 51 rides on this cam and raises a push rod 52 which actuates one set of longitudinal stops 22 (the forward set) as shown in FIG. 9.

The sprocket 46 is on a shaft 53, the inside portion of which carries two cams designated 54 and 55.

A follower 56 for cam 54 raises a push rod 57 which actuates the other set of longitudinal stops 22 (the rear set).

The cam 55 has a follower 58 which actuates the side joggers 23 through suitable linkage mechanism.

The cam 55 is carefully designed to cause the side joggers to advance rapidly toward the tapes 18 during the initial part of their travel in positioning a booklet under the head 20, and then advance very slowly toward the tapes during the final part of their travel. The friction between the tapes and the booklets must, necessarily, not be great, and if the joggers exert too great a side thrust on the booklets, they will be moved clear out of the proper position laterally.

The linkage mechanism for actuating the side joggers 23 in response to movement of the cam 55 includes a lever 59 which is pivoted on the frame of the machine at its lower end. This lever carries the follower 58.

There is a horizontal link 60 connecting the upper end of lever 59 to a vertical link 61. The link 61 is connected to a plate (visible through the slots in the table 10 in FIG. 8) which is designated 62. This plate has the side joggers 23 fixed thereto.

There is also a spring 63 connected to a vertical link which holds the follower 58 against the cam 55 and urges the plate 62 and the joggers 23 toward the tapes 18 at all times.

Referring to FIG. 9, it will be seen that the stops 22 are carried by bars 64 which extend transversely of the machine. There are rollers 65 at the outer ends of each of these bars (only one bar being so illustrated for clarity), and these rollers are mounted as eccentrics 66.

By adjusting the eccentrics, the angle between the axis of the bars 64 and the longitudinal dimension of the tapes 18 can be changed, the bars 64 pivoting about their center point. The center points of the bars remain fixed, however, by the push rods 52 and 57. The bars 64 are not individually adjustable lengthwise of the machine, Only the angle is adjusted by moving one end of the bar out and the other in my manipulation of the eccentrics.

The electrical system of the machine is shown in FIG. 10. There is a source and a main switch 71 for making connection to the motor 24. A connection is made to a shift switch 72 so that the intermittent portion of the mechanism may be operated manually by switch 73, but ordinarily the operation is under the control of the automatic switch 74.

The leaf switch 74 is located in the machine just in advance of the tapes 18 so as to be operated by the booklets 15 as they are fed through the machine. When a booklet strikes the leaf switch, it energizes the electromagnet of the clutch and starts the cyclic operation of sprocket 34. Switch 74 remains closed long enough to permit cam 41 to close switch 42 and hold clutch 29 in engagement until the cam 41 releases switch 42.

The connections to the electromagnets of clutch 29 and brake 31 are illustrated in FIG. 10, these magnets operating under direct current through a variable resistance 75 and a rectifier 76 under the control of a relay 77.

The operation of the machine will be apparent from what has been described above. When the booklet closes switch 74, the brake 31 will release shaft 30 and clutch 29 will start the intermittent operation of the holding and stitching mechanism. The rear stops 22 will rise every cycle of the intermittent mechanism and the forward stops 22 every other cycle of the stitching. Thus the stitches will be staggered at two different places in the booklets. Then as the stops 22 are withdrawn to a point beneath the tapes 18, the booklets will be carried on out at the rear of the machine. With each cycle, a booklet is laterally positioned correctly by the side joggers.

While only one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described herein, it is obvious that various changes may be made in the arrangement and construction of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the annexed claims.

I claim:

1. In a stitching machine for binding booklets, in combination, a table, tapes for moving booklets longitudinally along the table, means for continuously driving said tapes while the machine is in operation, longitudinal stops adapted to project through said table to temporarily stop each booklet as it is conveyed longitudinally by said tapes, said longitudinal stops consisting of pins secured to a bar extending transversely across the table together with an eccentric means for varying the angle of the bar with respect to the longitudinal dimension of the table, a stitching head, driving means for intermittently operating said stitching head for stitching each booklet as it is temporarily stopped by said stops, and driving means for lifting said longitudinal stops, including a cam and follower.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Francis et al. 227--100 Hopping 227-3 Scott 74569 March 227-3 US. Cl. 

